Fix: Photos error “Package could not be registered”

When you double-click an image file (e.g., .jpg, .png, .gif files) with the Photos app set as the default program on your Windows 10 computer, error Package could not be registered may pop up.

This post has instructions on how to fix the problem.

Fix: Photos error “Package could not be registered”

Step 1: Reset or Repair Photos app

1. Click Start, Settings, Apps, Apps & Features.
2. Select Microsoft Photos and click on the Advanced options link.
   
3. Click Terminate to close the app if it’s running in the foreground or background.
   
4. Click on the Repair button.
5. See if you’re able to open image files in Photos app by double-clicking.
6. If the issue is unresolved, switch to the Settings window.
7. Click Terminate to close the app.
8. Click Reset to reset Microsoft Photos configuration to default. Your personal files and image sources collection shouldn’t be affected.
9. Open the Photos app reconfigure the settings.

Step 2: Uninstall & Reinstall the Photos app

Start PowerShell as administrator.

Run the following command in the PowerShell console:

Get-AppxPackage Microsoft.Windows.Photos | Remove-AppxPackage

This uninstalls the Photos app.

To reinstall Photos, run the following command:

Get-AppxPackage -allusers Microsoft.Windows.Photos | Foreach {Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register "$($_.InstallLocation)\AppXManifest.xml"}

(Refer to the article How to Reinstall the Photos App in Windows 10? for more information.)

Still doesn’t help?

If the above steps don’t help, try the following:

• Follow the procedure listed under Step 3: Uninstall Photos, Remove Leftover Files and Reinstall in the article File System Error 2147219196 in Photos or Other Store Apps. The mentioned procedure resets your Photos app data store completely. Your personal files, images won’t be affected.
• Run the DISM /restorehealth and Sfc /scannow commands to repair system files and component store corruption if any. See Repair Windows 10 Using DISM and SFC for detailed information.
• Optionally, you may switch to Windows Photo Viewer as the default viewer, if you want only the preview capability. You’ll need to register Windows Photo Viewer manually first. See how to Restore Missing Windows Photo Viewer in Windows 10

Hope one of the above steps helped you get rid of the Package could not be registered (0x80073CF6) error when opening images using Photos.